Walmart Inc. (WMT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 on April 7th

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be paid a dividend of 0.235 per share by the retailer on Monday, April 7th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. This is a positive change from Walmart’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21.

Walmart has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 52 consecutive years. Walmart has a dividend payout ratio of 30.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Walmart to earn $3.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.94 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.1%.

Walmart Trading Down 2.6 %

NYSE:WMT opened at $94.70 on Friday. Walmart has a 12 month low of $57.77 and a 12 month high of $105.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $95.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.44. The stock has a market cap of $760.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.55.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The retailer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 21.87%. The firm had revenue of $180.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.83 billion. Equities analysts predict that Walmart will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Walmart

In related news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.99, for a total value of $166,384.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 423,597 shares in the company, valued at $44,049,852.03. This trade represents a 0.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.44, for a total value of $2,663,098.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,814,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $348,825,769.20. This represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 176,777 shares of company stock valued at $16,570,112. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $98.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Walmart from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Walmart has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.43.

Walmart Company Profile

Walmart Inc engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, other units, and eCommerce worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club. It operates supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, and discount stores under Walmart and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, PhonePe and other sites; and mobile commerce applications.